Youth watch December 2021∣Youth Hong Kong
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sports around the world
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ootball is the most popular sport in the world. It originated in England, along with tennis, and cricket. Here are some facts and figures from some of the world’s biggest countries, about both their popular spectator and participation sports and the industry that supports them. Algeria: Africa’s largest country
In the last three Olympic Games, African athletes have won two-thirds of all the gold medals for running from 800m upwards. The rest of the world combined, with all its facilities and sports science, can’t come close to matching them.
p Marie Josée Ta Lou
Nevertheless, football is the most popular sport in Algeria, Africa’s largest nation by land area, as it is in many countries today. Algerian children and adults regularly play soccer for amusement in streets and parks. Algeria qualified to participate ian the World Cup championships in 1982 and 1986 and won Africa's Continental Championship in 1990.1 Algeria has competed at every summer Olympics since 1964, winning five gold medals, most of which were in athletics. Other popular sports are boxing, basketball, martial arts, volleyball and handball, a sport that is also dominant in other North African countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.2
Australia
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Sport in Australia dates back to the early colonial period and has shaped the Australian national identity. The highest rates of participation for Australian sport and recreation are non-organized sports with cycling, skateboarding and rollerblading topping the list of activities for children, with 66% of all boys being cyclists and 54.4% of girls.
p Kaylee Rochelle McKeown
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The three most popular organized sports for boys are soccer, swimming and Australian rules football. For girls, they are swimming/diving and netball. Participation rates for adults in Australia are much lower than that of Australian children but it is one of five countries to have played in world cups of three different sports: cricket, soccer and rugby, along with England, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.3
